Trump announces executive orders on immigration, DEI and energy before inauguration: NPR

For updates, context and analysis of Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, visit NPR’s live blog throughout the day Monday.

President-elect Trump is expected to sign a series of executive orders, memorandums and proclamations Monday after being sworn in, reversing many of his predecessors’ policies and restoring actions from his first term.

Actions are expected to address a range of issues, including campaign priorities such as border security and culture war issues like DEI policies.

If Trump signs as many executive orders as he has telegraphed, he could sign more on day one than any other president has signed in one. year – a record of 100, set in 1952 by former President Harry Truman.

Here’s what we know so far:

Immigration

Trump should declare a national emergency at the U.S. southern border, designate criminal cartels as terrorist groups and end birthright citizenship for children born to immigrant parents without legal status, new officials say the Trump White House.

Trump will also reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which would force some asylum seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico for their hearing in U.S. immigration court, the officials said.

The measures are among 10 wide-ranging executive actions on border security that new officials say Trump plans to sign on Monday:

1. Declare a national emergency at the border: Officials said the action would allow the U.S. armed forces to complete the border wall and allow the secretary of defense to deploy members of the armed forces and National Guard to the border.
2. “Clarifying” the role of the army in border security: This order “directs the military to prioritize our borders” and protect territorial integrity “by repelling forms of invasion, including illegal mass migration, drug trafficking, smuggling and smuggling of “human beings and other criminal activities,” officials said.
3. End “Catch and Release,” Keep Building the Wall, and End “Remain in Mexico”
4. Designating criminal cartels as terrorists: This will make it easier for the United States to deport members of groups like Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela, and MS-13.
5. Suspend refugee resettlement: The official said the United States would suspend refugee resettlement for at least four months.
6. End asylum and close the border to people without legal status via proclamation: Officials said they plan to end asylum altogether and close the border to people without legal status through a proclamation, “which creates a process of immediate removal without the possibility of asylum” .
7. Ending birthright citizenship: Officials said the White House was considering ending the right to citizenship, enshrined in the 14^th Amendment. They argued that the amendment does not automatically recognize birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents without legal status. This action is likely to give rise to immediate legal challenges.
8. Improve control and screening: Officials said they would “enhance screening and monitoring of illegal aliens.”
9. “Protecting American Citizens from Invasion”: Officials said this “gives ICE and CBP agents and officers the authorities” they need to remove people from the United States.
10. Reinstate the death penalty: “This particular action directs the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for the murder of law enforcement officers and capital crimes committed by illegal aliens. It encourages state agencies and district attorneys to pursue capital charges for these crimes,” the officials said.

Read more from NPR’s Ximena Bustillo.

Defining “sex” and ending DEI programs

Trump will sign an executive order on Monday stating that it is the policy of the United States to recognize two biologically distinct sexes — male and female — a new White House official told reporters in a preliminary conference call Monday.

“These are sexes that cannot be changed and are anchored in a fundamental and incontestable reality,” the official said.

The change will require government agencies to use the definitions on documents such as passports, visas and employee records, the official said. Taxpayer funds cannot be used for “transition services,” the official said.

A second order will end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, the official said, citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s environmental justice programs as examples, as well as training for diversity.

National energy emergency and “electric vehicle mandate”

Trump intends to declare a national energy emergency Monday, aimed at cutting red tape and regulations for the energy sector, as well as a second one specific to Alaska’s resources, a new energy official said. White House to reporters on a preview conference call.

“This national energy emergency will unlock a variety of different authorities that will allow our nation to quickly rebuild, produce coal and natural resources, create jobs, create prosperity, and strengthen our nation’s national security,” the official said. The official said energy prices were too high, but declined on the call to indicate a lower target price.

The order will end what new Trump officials call the “electric vehicle mandate” and end “efforts to restrict consumers’ choice over the things they use every day, whether shower heads, gas stoves, dishwashers and the like,” the official said.

Trump has long railed against energy efficiency standards during his election campaign, and specifically attacked “electric vehicle mandates,” a term he uses to encompass all policies designed to encourage a transition towards battery-powered cars. Rules requiring 100% of vehicles to be electric do not exist at the federal level.

Inflation

Trump will sign a presidential memorandum on inflation on Monday, a new administration official said. The official did not provide additional details.

NPR correspondents Tamara Keith and Camila Domonoske contributed to this report.